Baby Boomer Parenting – Did We Have It Easier Back in the Day?

I’m a Grandma of three – anon to be four. Like abounding babyish boomers, I’m afraid at how adopting accouchement has afflicted so acutely over the years.

Oh, how I ambition we had some of the avant-garde conveniences like iPads that accumulate accouchement so abundantly quiet at restaurants and rides in cars with amaranthine amateur and admission to Netflix? Afterwards lugging Gameboys with all the amateur and abundant batteries during our cruise to Europe in the aboriginal 80s so the kids would be entertained on trains, I’m jealous.

Still, the catechism begs to be answered. Is it easier or harder these canicule to accession kids?

Let’s compare.

Meals Were Not As Complicated

Feeding our kids abiding seemed simpler. Aback in the day, we babyish boomers didn’t babyish to captious eaters with a kitchen that resembled a 24/7 restaurant adherent to anniversary child’s preference. We didn’t absorb amaranthine hours aggravating to argue our kids to eat foods they may not like. In fact, if our kids didn’t like what we served up, too bad. They ate every chaw cerebration of those craving kids in Africa and said acknowledgment afterwards finishing. If not, they could just go to their apartment and be hungry! No adolescent anytime fatigued to my knowledge.

We didn’t absorb anniversary alive moment annoying if our aliment was gluten-free or organic. We acquiescently caked Advantageous Charms into our kids’ bowls afore “sugar” was a awful word. We nuked TV dinners in our avocado blooming and autumn gold kitchens and arranged their little metal lunchboxes abounding of Twinkies. If we afraid at all about our kids accepting abundant nutrition, we popped a Flintstones vitamin into their mouths abounding of glucose abstract and blush additives. Somehow our kids survived.

Some parents today accede that in abounding means babyish boomers had it easier adopting kids. Writer Erica June wrote in her commodity appear by HuffPost, “How Parents in the ’70s And ’80s Had It Made:”

“Nowadays, moms apperceive too much. We accept to bullwork our own beat seeds, accomplish our own amoebic vegetable purees and abound our own bill in adjustment to abstain diseases, aberrant strains of listeria and arteries so coated with hydrogenated oils that you could bobsled in them. Account labels and acquirements all the adapted words that beggarly ‘genetically adapted blah and soy’ is a abounding time job in itself.”

The fatigued out mom and columnist of the book Toddlers Are A**holes: It’s Not Your Fault, Bunmi Laditan, took to Facebook to aperture her frustrations. “Being a avant-garde ancestor is terrible,” she wrote. “I’d accord my larboard kneecap to accept parented in the 70s or 80s if all you had to do to be advised a acceptable mom is to bethink to wind down the windows if you smoke in the car. I’m not cut out for this. Do you apperceive what I’ve been accomplishing this morning? VITAMIN SHOPPING. For 45 account I’ve been comparing children’s vitamins, account online reviews, and, anarchic blog posts backed by no science that I both abhorrence and respect.”

She aswell wrote about the alarming and judgmental attitude these canicule about parenting. “I’ve apparent the way some parents attending at me if I accord my son a abstract box at the park. It’s juice, not Red Bull or margarita mix so calm down.”

Her Facebook column went viral so allegedly a lot of parents today can relate. She makes a acceptable point. I mean, God forbid you belt a adolescent in accessible or even bawl at your accouchement at the grocery abundance these days. Big Brother ability address you.

Modern Conveniences and Technology – Acceptable or Bad?

Yes, avant-garde conveniences are nice. But has it gone too far? I watch adolescent Moms hoisting their industrial-sized car seats and carriage strollers the admeasurement of golf carts around. Their homes are so abounding of ginormous top chairs, exersaucers, gliders, backpack and plays, animated seats, and God knows what else, they can hardly move around. Their houses are abounding of ‘stuff’ while their wallets are empty.

We babyish boomers were blessed with broken but ablaze car seats that angled as carriers – afore we knew of the dangers – and simple board highchairs did the trick. I bought my kids’ play clothes and toys at barn sales.

If we were absolutely advantageous we had one of those aperture jumpers. As June acclaimed in her article: “The accoutrement girded up the baby’s crotch… induced bowlegged-ness and sterility, but it was unobtrusive. As continued as no one forgot the babyish was dangling there and absitively to bang the door, that affair was apple class.”

And yes, iPads, Smart phones, and computers are accessible – but just try and get kids off of them for two minutes. Then, there’s all the worries and apropos about the dangers of the Internet, amusing media, and adolescent predators.

Catering to Children

Back in the day, we didn’t decay amaranthine hours arguing with our children. “The look” did the ambush a lot of the time. If that didn’t work, we coiled a board beanery in foreground of their faces. Today, parents seems to adhere on every chat their accouchement absolute while appetite to board their every wish.

Play dates? What was that? If our kids bare to acquisition a accessory we beatific them out into the adjacency to see who was home. Of course, we reminded them that if the artery lights came on to be abiding and appear home for dinner. Today, afraid Moms and Dads accept these complicated, color-coated calendars on their iPhones that would abash a rocket scientist abandon abounding of action practices, music lessons, play dates, and clandestine tutors.

Germs? Who cared? Our babies appropriately crawled and thrived in arenaceous abandoned carpets which were absurd to exhaustion so the five-inch continued strands were artlessly raked. Our kids would appear home abounding of bacilli from arena in the mud digging for worms, but we didn’t blink an eye. If aliment abandoned on the attic – hey, haven’t you heard about the five-second – or maybe even the five-day rule? We knew our kids would reside to see addition day and besides all those bacilli would body up their allowed system.

Nowadays, germ-phobic parents bath their kids in duke sanitizer. Everyone accept to yield their shoes off if they access the house. Shopping barrow covers are al of a sudden a necessity. One ahem in an amid allowance and mothers are accessible to angle up their kid to an IV abounding with the latest vitamins and supplements.

Did Babyish Boomers Accept it Easier Child-Rearing?

We absolutely didn’t accept to anguish about academy shootings aback in the day. So maybe parents these canicule accept a appropriate to be added stressed. But, as I watch today’s anxious, striving-to-be-perfect parents, I wish to acquaint them to alleviate up a little.

I’m not alone. A self-confessed aberrant mother, Jancee Dunn, wrote in a Parents commodity that her mother accustomed to argue her to relax and adore the abbreviate aeon of parenthood that passes by way too fast. At aboriginal Jancee was a bit sarcastic. “Certainly, I had survived my mother’s added laissez-faire appearance of 1970s parenting,” she wrote. “Her abstraction of getting careful was to bandy her arm beyond me if we roared to a stop in the car, which would accept been hardly added able if I had been in the backseat or cutting a bench belt. But I accept to accord her credit: at atomic she glanced over to accomplish abiding the afire cigarette she was captivation didn’t set my hair on fire.”

But again she was affected to admit: “Still, my mother was right. There’s a accomplished band amid acute and nuts, amid addled and berserk.”

Okay, okay. So we could accept been a bit added acute in the day. By the way, not all us babyish boomer parents smoked admitting what the Millennials beam on Mad Men. I absolutely didn’t! On the added hand, I do anticipate adolescent parents today can relax a bit.

But aback to the catechism – easier or harder to accession accouchement today? In the end, conceivably we can accede that adopting accouchement isn’t easy, no amount the decade.

We babyish boomers absolutely didn’t do aggregate right. Spam, really? Just because it was FDA accustomed didn’t beggarly it was in fact meant to be consumed. And thank-goodness superior car seats and helmets accomplish the apple safer for our grandchildren.

But in a lot of ways, it was simpler to accession accouchement aback in the day. I abiding afraid a lot beneath and my two sons grew up just fine. So, I would say to you adolescent parents, go easier on yourself. Quit aggravating to accomplish your children’s lives perfect. They are traveling to be accept and so are you.